ECS 100 Field Experience
Every Wednesday in my ECS 100 class I get the opportunity to observe a grade 3 classroom at St. Bernadette School. Each week, I record the daily activities that happen in the classroom.
Week 1
For my field experience I am in a grade 3 classroom at St. Bernadette every Wednesday morning. On the first day my partner and I were told to be around 45 minutes early. When we got there we were welcomed by many staff members and the principal. Going early to the school was nice because it got me familiar with my surroundings and I had a chance to visit with the cooperative teacher (Ms. Cupper) before school hours started. Once we got to Ms. Cupper classroom she informed us of her day plan, policy in the classroom and what she expects from us. Inside her classroom it is very calm with an open concept. She keeps it very simple and neat, she doesn’t have many things on her boards. For me, I think this is a great environment because it is not cluttered and doesn’t have things that would distract the students.
Once the children started arriving in the class many of the students became very curious of why we were there. After prayer and O’ Canada was done, we had a lesson in religion. For me, I went to a catholic school so I knew what to expect. Observing the kids in that lesson was very interesting because the class is fairly large and most of the kids wanted to be part of the class discussion. This was interesting to me because throughout my school experience I forgot how younger kids want to participate in class and want to be part of the lesson. After that the kids had phys.ed which they went to a fitness room rather than the gym. This was a time when I got the chance to interact with several of the kids and play games with them. On that note, this class was very overwhelming because it was a small space with over 25 kids running, shouting, and goofing around. After that class was over it was recess, and my cooperative teacher had outside supervision. During recess she ended up dealing with a situation that occured on the playground. In this situation the kid was caught dragging another kid around by the hood of his sweater. For me this was upsetting to see, but it was interesting on how the teacher dealt with the situation. She handle it in a very calm manner even though the kid would not listen or go inside after recess was over. After recess we ended up going to a presentation where an elder came to talk to the students. At this presentation it was interesting because seeing things in a teacher perspective is very different than being the student. Seeing this in a different perspective was intriguing because we were listening to the presentation but we were also observing the kids and how they were behaving. When the presentation was over it was time for us to leave. Before we left many of the kids came up to my partner and I and gave us a hug, which I thought was very sweet.
Once the children started arriving in the class many of the students became very curious of why we were there. After prayer and O’ Canada was done, we had a lesson in religion. For me, I went to a catholic school so I knew what to expect. Observing the kids in that lesson was very interesting because the class is fairly large and most of the kids wanted to be part of the class discussion. This was interesting to me because throughout my school experience I forgot how younger kids want to participate in class and want to be part of the lesson. After that the kids had phys.ed which they went to a fitness room rather than the gym. This was a time when I got the chance to interact with several of the kids and play games with them. On that note, this class was very overwhelming because it was a small space with over 25 kids running, shouting, and goofing around. After that class was over it was recess, and my cooperative teacher had outside supervision. During recess she ended up dealing with a situation that occured on the playground. In this situation the kid was caught dragging another kid around by the hood of his sweater. For me this was upsetting to see, but it was interesting on how the teacher dealt with the situation. She handle it in a very calm manner even though the kid would not listen or go inside after recess was over. After recess we ended up going to a presentation where an elder came to talk to the students. At this presentation it was interesting because seeing things in a teacher perspective is very different than being the student. Seeing this in a different perspective was intriguing because we were listening to the presentation but we were also observing the kids and how they were behaving. When the presentation was over it was time for us to leave. Before we left many of the kids came up to my partner and I and gave us a hug, which I thought was very sweet.
Week 2
For my second week in the field I got to experience many aspects in dealing and interacting with many students. The day started with the kids doing grammar bellwork, once they were done that Ms. Kupper quickly moved on to Religion and made the kids do a small group assignment. After the students were done with Religion they went off to phys.ed. In my first week I went to their phys.ed class to observe what activities they were doing, but for this week Ms. Kupper made my partner and I corrected math homework in her prep time. For me, I found this interesting because this semester I am taking a certain math class that is required for primary education and during this time of taking it I have questioned the fact of why I needed to take this math when I am going to teach little kids how to add, subtract, multiplication, and dividing. Correcting the students math it made me realized that the math that I am taking is just a harder version of what grade 3’s are learning. This was an eye opener because becoming a teacher it is important that you have a full understanding of certain things such as adding number blocks in math. Once the kids got back from phys.ed it was time for recess. During recess, my partner and I got to deal with certain problems on the playground. One situation was certain boys were not letting two girls play grounders. My partner and I dealt with the situation by talking to the boys and convincing them that the girls are allowed to play. After recess was done it was time for English. In this class the students were put in groups for “reading centers”. Ms. Kupper ask my partner and I to go out in the hall and do reading assessments with some of the children. I enjoyed reading with the students because this gave me the opportunity to interact with some of the students one on one and build a little bit of a relationship. Once we were done reading with some of the students it was time for us to leave.
Week 3
This weeks experience was not very eventful. My cooperative teacher was dealing with personal issues so her classroom was kind of all over the place. At the beginning of the day we started with Religion, once that was done the students went off to gym. During the prep period my partner and I corrected math homework again which is always interesting. For me it was interesting because it made me realize how much correcting teachers actually have to do (hahah). After the kids came back from gym it was recess, during recess nothing really happened. My partner and I did not have to deal with any issues. After recess the students had the opportunity to go to the book fair and purchase books. During this time me and my partner helped the kids pick out books and made sure they had the correct amount of money. After we got back to class the kids just silent read until lunch.
Week 4
This weeks field experience landed on halloween, which I was very excited about. My partner and I didn’t end up dressing up, but it ended up being so much fun seeing all the kids dressed up and participating in Halloween activities. Since it was halloween the kids didn’t have a typical day, they got to do some fun halloween activities/assignments. It was interesting how my cooperative teacher came up with creative assignments for halloween that kept the kids engaged and were not hyper with the excitement of halloween. My cooperative teacher gave us some really great ideas on how we could start building a “tool box” with some important materials to have. She recommended to start gathering assignment ideas because the earlier you start the more prepared you are. For me, I thought this was such a perfect idea because becoming a new teacher it is important to gain as much knowledge and resources as you can before becoming a teacher. Although yesterday was Halloween my cooperative teacher gave us some great advice and recommendations yesterday.
Week 5
This weeks experience was by far the best so far! Unfortunately my cooperative teacher wasn’t there, so we ended up having a substitute teacher. The sub was a new teacher that recently graduated from university. Although I missed my cooperative teacher it was nice because the sub teacher let my partner and I teach for most of the day. The day started with us reading to the students. We read a ‘parody’ story about the the 3 little pigs, then compared the original story about the 3 little pigs with the parody. After we were done doing that the students did an assignment in English. The students had to cut words out and separate them on a piece of paper. During this assignment many of the kids needed extra help, this was a great opportunity to connect with them and have one on one time with most of the students. Once that was done we moved onto math, where the kids had to do a math worksheet on counting money. Again, this was another opportunity that we had to spend with the students and helping them through the work sheet. After that was complete it was time for recess. When the students came back from recess it was time to do religion. During religion they were assigned to draw a picture of people they loved, they spent the rest of the morning doing that.
Week 6
During my sixth week in the field this week was quite uneventful. We started the day with bellwork, the students had to correct grammar mistakes. Once the students were done that Ms. Cupper moved into english. The students were assigned to read a short story, after they were done reading they had to analyze the story and make connections to themselves. After recess the students had math and religion. In math, the students were working on number lines and counting. Ms. Cupper wanted me to give a students some extra help when doing the assignment. When I was helping this student it made me realized that all students comprehend things differently, as I was sitting with them I noticed that this student had a different way of counting. For me, the way she counted was not wrong it was just something that I wouldn’t personally do. In reality if it makes sense and makes her feel comfortable that’s all that matters. When math was done Ms. Cupper thought it would be a good idea to do a brain break before religion. For the brain break the students watched a video that was a dance with step by step movements. This was a good way to get the kids moving and to burn off some extra energy. Moving into religion, Ms. Cupper read a passage from the bible and the kids had to personally reflect and draw a picture of how they were feeling towards the scripture that was read. Once the students were done it was time for lunch.
Week 7
During the 7th week in the field, the day started like usual with Oh Canada, prayer and Bellwork. For Bellwork this week, the students were working on correcting grammar. Once Bellwork was done, Ms. Cupper transitioned into English Language Arts. In ELA this week, the students were assigned to ‘silently’ read a book from their textbook and answer questions. During this time, I was helping a student read individually. After taking a large amount of time doing that it was time for recess. Today for recess the students had to stay in because of the weather. Some of the students wanted me to play ‘uno’ with them. This made me happy because at the beginning of my field experience the students didn’t engage with me much and it was nice to see that they wanted me to be around them. After recess, it was time for math. Ms. Cupper surprised the students with a math test Although a math test is a bit different in grade 3 towards it being graded, it is more beneficial for Ms. Cupper to see if her class is understanding the concepts that she is teaching. As the students were writing the test, Ms. Cupper got my partner and I to help this girl with her math test. Throughout the past few weeks I have been helping her with assignments. For over a month this student was gone to the Philippines, so when she came back she was quite behind. Once the math test was done, and I was done helping this student, it was time for lunch. When the day was over I was pretty sad knowing this was the last time I would see those kids. Many of the kids before I left gave me hugs and pictures they had drawn. This made me feel good because it made me feel that the students like my presence and that I built a relationship with many of the students.